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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday had said Russia would continue to support the Normandy format talks, which are aimed at ending fighting in eastern Ukraine, with the leaders of Germany, France and Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Read alsoPutin plans no meetings with Poroshenko: KremlinThe German foreign minister had told reporters in Oslo, Norway on Sunday that he hoped a new regulation aimed at maintaining a fragile "back to school" ceasefire in eastern Ukraine could be completed soon by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The parties have been talking for weeks about measures to disentangle Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists along the so-called "line of confrontation."

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will meet Steinmeier in Berlin on Thursday. They will then meet again in Ukraine next week along with French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

The OSCE's special monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine reported a higher number of ceasefire violations in its daily report on Wednesday than in the previous period, but officials say the agreement is still holding "by and large."